densmore



y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. B. DENSMORE. 4

Grain Harvester.

No. 8,720. 2 Patented Feb. 101 1852.

2 Sheets Sheet 2.

B. ENSMORE.

Gra Harvester.

Patented Feb. 10, 1852.

N. PETERS, Phemlhhngnphnr. washington. D. C.

`UNITET) STATES PATENT Errea.

IMPROVEMENT 1N GRAIN-HARVESTERS.

Specitication forming part of Letters Patent No. @,720, dated February l0, 1852.

To all whom it may concern: Y

Be it knownthat I, BYRON DENsMoRE, of the town of Sweden, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Reaping-Machines for Cutting Wheat and other Small Grain; aud I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation ot' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this speciticatiomin which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the driving-wheel, showing the grooved cam, the reciprocating lever,the springs, the cords that connect the reciprocatinglever to the rake, the pulleys that conduct the cords, and the teeth otl the rake. Fig. 3 is a v iew of the platform, with the covering of the rake removed, showing the finger-piece and fingers,

the sickle, the plates that support the sickle the parallel rods on which the rake vibrates, the rake, the attachments of the cords to the rake, the pulleys, the crank on which the small ground-wheel is hung that carries the left side of the machine, and the winch for adjusting said crank. Fig. 4 is a view of the outer side ofthe grooved cam, showingthe ratchet-wheel, the hand, and the spring that holds the hand into the ratchet-wheel. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal View of the plates that support the sickle. Fig. 6 is a view of the back tooth of the rake.

My invention and improvement consist in a new arrangement for raking the grain from the machine; likewise, in a new arrangement for raising and lowering the machine to vary the height of cut; also, in a new .mode of hanging the sickle, which will be particularly described.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The nger-piece E is made fast to the parallel hounds A and a. ToV these hounds the tongue is, attached. The team is harnessed to the tongue in the usual manner. The frame B and b is attached to the hounds A and a, a few inches in frontof the finger-piece, by straps of iron, as at C, Fig. 2. These straps of iron are bolted to each side ofthe hounds, and extend up on to the sides ot' the side pieces ofthe frame, and a bolt passes through the tops of these straps and through the side pieces of the frame B b and form a hinge. The front end of the frame is fastened to the upright pieces D and D by bolts, and these bolts are .shifted into different holes in these upright 'piece of the frame. To the outer end of'the axle'of the driving-wheel is attached a master spur cog-wheel that meshes into a pinion in front of it, which is hungon a short arbor that has one of its bearings on the under side ot' the side piece, b, of the frame, and the other bearing on the under side of a piece of timber framed parallel to the side piece, b, and abouteight inches outside of it. Outside of the spur-pinion, on the same arbor, is a bevel cog-wheel, that meshes into a pinion that is hung on an arbor which has its bearings on the cross-girts of the frame and extends back of the frame. On the back end ot' this arbor is hung a small fly-wheel, that has. an iron wrist through the plane of it about two and threeeighths inches from the center, which forms a crank that drives the sickle. To this pin or wristis attached a rod or pitman,which is connected to the sickle d d d d, Fig. 3. The sickle, instead ot' resting upon the fingers e ee e e e e e e e in the usual way for support, is supported by the iron platesj'ff, Figs. 3 and 5. These plates are made fast to the edge ot' the linger-piece H, and project in front of it, say, two and onehalfinches,and thusformabearing for the sickle 'or bladein sections separate from the fingers, and the tingers are Aso shapedas not to touch the sickle more than one-fourth of an inch back of the cut, but are grooved out in the rear or under the back part of the sickle, say, one-fourth of an inch, thereby preventing choking by giving the straws room to slide or dropout. The small ground-wheel F, that carries the left side of the machine, is hung on the crank h., Figs. l and 3, which is supported by boxes each side of the wheel made fast to the frame Gr Gr. The outer end of this crank, or its`shai't, is made square, and the holes in the ends of the lever g are fitted to it, one diamonding and the other square. To vary the height ofcut at the left side ofthe machine, the lever gis taken off from the crank and shifted as desired, and then fastened down to the frame at g.

The grooved cam M is hung on the inner end of the axle of the driving-wheel, and

is made to turn upon it like a loose pulley, and is made to revolve with the drivingwheel when necessary by the hand I, Fig. 4, holding in the ratchet-wheel t'. The circular spring J holds the hand into the notches ot' the ratchet-wheel and prevents it from falling out when it passes the under side. The friction-roller K, Fig. 2, works in the groove of the cam M. lt is attached to the reciprocating lever K at 1, Fig. 2. The lever is attached to the frame, say, fifteen inches in front ofthe friction-roller, at 2, by means of a plate of iron, which is bolted to the under side of the lever K. This plate has bearings projecting out each side of the lever, to which are fitted boxes that are bolted to the frame forming a hinge on which the lever vibrates. The

.front end of this lever is turned upward and extends forward of the point of attachment to the frame, say, fteen inches, as at 3, Fig. 2, and is attached to the spring m, in manner hereinafter described. As the grooved cam M revolves, the frictionroller kis moved 'downward from l to 4, Fig. 2, and the lever k is moved downward with it and the back end ofthe lever K is made to pass down from 5 to 6, a distance equal tothe length of the platform G. Then the friction-roller k presses against the inner flange, i" i", of the cam, and the lever is forced back to 5 again.

To the back end of the reciprocating lever Kis attached three cords; but chains or straps may be used. Two of these cords pass down at 7 7, Fig. 2, around the pulley 0', along the end of the platform, and one of them turns around the pulley O2, Fig. 3, and is attached to the back end of the rake at p, Fig. 3. The other cord passes around the pulley 03, and is attached to the end of the rake nearest the finger-piece. These cords are attached to small blocks of wood P and p, Fig. 3. These blocks have holes through them h'tting the parallel rods Q Q and q q, and slide on these rods. The third cord passes upward and around the pulley O4, thence to the pulley 05, Fig. 1, then to the pulley O, and is attached to the center of the rake at `e, Fig. 3. These cords heilig thus attached, as the reciprocating lever K descends from 5 to 6 the rake is made to slide across the platform from right to left on the parallel rods Q Q q q.

The rake is made by putting a rod, S S, of .of half-inch round iron, say, two feet long, through corresponding holes in the blocks P and p, at right angles with the parallel rods QQ and q q. To this rod S S the teeth t t t, Fig. 2, of the rake are attached. The lower end ofthe back raketooth, t', is made to extend a little below the transverse rod S S, to which the rakefteeth are attached, as at 2, Fig. 6. When the rake passes from right to left across the platform the teeth turn down the upper ends to the platform, and when it comes to the left side the lower end of the back tooth, t', strikes the small hook at 9, Fig. 3, and the teeth raise up, and they are pre-vented from falling down while they pass to the righ-t side of the machine bythe pressure of the grain against them. ln case the pressure of the grain comes wholly against one tooth, as it is liable to, the rake is prevented from turning and one end getting ahead of the other, and thus cramping on the rods on which it runs b v the manner the cords are attached to it, the two cords that move it from left to right being attached to each end of the rake, and the one that moves it back being attached to the center. The grooved cam is so formed as to move the rake from left to right across the platform with about three times the velocity that it moves from right to left. Consequently the grain is discharged at the right side ofthe machine with great motion. 1t is necessary to have the rake so arranged that the gavels can be left at different distances apart in thin and thick grain,that the gavel may at all times he of suitable size for binding. This is effected by placing the small lever R on the top of the side piece, B, of the frame. The back end vof it is above the center of the ratchet-wheel and turned in toward it. The forward end of it extends forward to the drivers seat. It is attached tol the side piece of the frame b v a bolt about five or six inches from the back end, on which it turns. The back end ot' the-lever is held up to the ratchetwheel by a spring, and as the hand I, Fig. '4, comes to the upper side it strikes against the back end of this lever, and is thrown out of the notches of the ratchet-wheel and the rake stops.A The rake at this time is at the left side of the platform always, and the rake stands still until the driver presses his leg against the front end of the lever R and bears it inward, which throws the back end out from under thehand and the rake is putin motion; or the rake may be made to throw oli' the grain any given distance between one and two revolutions of the driving-wheel by pins projecting out from the plane of the ratchet-wheel, which could be so arranged as to throw out the back end of the lever from under the hand, and put the rake in motion after it had been stopped a quarter,

'a half, or a Whole of a revolution of the driving-wheel-that is, four such pins placed on the four quarters of the ratchet-wheel would not allow of the rake being stopped but onefourt-h of a revolution of the driving-wheel, two would not allow of it stopping but onehalf of a revolution, and one would allow it to be stopped one entire revolution before it would be put in motion again.

The hand y is used for the purpose of pre venting the cam M from turning backward when the hand I, Fig. 4., is raised out of the notches of the ratchet-wheel i. It is made fast to the inside of the side piece, B, of the frame and catches in the notches of the ratchet 2, Fig. 4.

The. grain being raked oi' from the machine with a quick motion, it is desirable to have some means of accumulating power While the rake is returning from right to left to assist in throwing off the grain. For this purpose the front end of the reciprocating lever K is attached to the spring m. As the back end of the lever K is forced downward the front end ascends and draws the spring toward the frame. The spring m is made very stiff. Now, as the back end of the lever K moves upward and moves the grain on the platform, the spring pulls downward' on the front end of the lever with great power, thus relieving the'pressure ou the cam M very much; but it is evident that it' the chain T were attached to the front end of the level' K and to the spring m directly, the spring would exert a much greater power on the lever when it was drawn upward to its highest pointthan when it was down to its lowest point, and the spring would he sprung a distance equal to the space the front end of the lever passed through. To avoid these objections, the double eccentric U is used. It is apiece of cast-iron with a onehalf-inch iron rod passing through it, on which it turns as au axis. This rod is supported by two irons that project out in front of the frame B I). The chain T is attached to the front end of the lever K and to the largest eccentric at the point farthest from the axes, and the chain V is attached to the end of the spring on and to the smallest eccentric at the point farthestfrom the axes, and these chains are so arranged on the eccentrics that as one winds ou the other un winds, and vice versa, and the eccentrics are so arranged that as the front end of the lever K ascends the line of draft ot' the vchain T is thrown off farther and farther from the axes of motion of the eccentric, while at the.

nearer and'nearer the axis. Thus the power to move the spring, or the leverage on it to move it, is increased as the spring` becomes stiffer by being drawn toward the frame, and the circumference ofthe eccentric on which the chain T winds is about double the circumference of the one that the chain V Winds ou. Hence the spring is sprung only about half the distance the front end ot' the lever K moves. By this arrangement the power of-the spring on the lever is triade equal in all positions or varied, as may be desired.

The reel W is made, supported,.and operated in the usual mannen The board X is attached to the divider Y by a'hinge-joint, that it may be raised and low- -ered with the reel, and kept at all times so that the arms of the reel will but just clear it,

that grain may not lodge upon it. There is a wire (not shown in thedrawings) running down from the board X obliqnetyr to the platform in front of each rake-tooth to keep the grain clear of the rake-teeth while they are raised up.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of the grooved cam M and reciprocating lever K, so arranged with each other as to give to the rake while in the act of clearing the platform of grain an increasedrapidity ot' 'motion as compared with its backward movement.

2. Controlling the motion of the rake b v means of the combined action of the hand I, ratchet i, and lever 1t, as setv forth.

3. The arrangement of the double eccentric U for equalizing the power of the spring m on the lever K, in the manner described.

4. Forming supports for the vibrating blade or sickle by the plates fff in sections separat-e from the lingers, to prevent choking, as described and represented.

BYRON DENSMORE.

Witnesses:

HIRAM MOORE, G. BURRoMs. 

